Devil's Gate

"You both need to clear off my property, or as god is my witnessI will not be responsible for what happens! Colt, If she goes in there Maria and Jonah are as good as dead."

An onrushing hot rod that suddenly breaks down near an awful looking, abandoned farm with lots of barbed wire and warning signs. There are squeaky doors and you can hear a howling wind while the person with car trouble is looking for someone who can help him. And then he experiences that awful moment. Something he did not see coming. I immediately sat straight up in my chair and expected an intense horror. Especially when the title of the film is "Devil's gate". The poor, dilapidated farmstead and the desolate environment immediately reminded me of "The Texas chainsaw massacre". A no-man's-land where a psychopathic, crazy family terrorizes and kills lost tourists so they can brew a hearty one-pan meal afterwards. To my disappointment, the movie title turned out to be the name of the town where the story takes place.

To be honest, the first part of the movie was tremendously fascinating. A missing woman and her son. The F.B.I. Agente Daria (Amanda Schull) who, together with the local policeman Colt (Shawn Ashmore), investigates the disappearance of both persons. And the downright suspicious acting Jackson Pritchard (Milo Ventimiglia) where the two enforcers of the law finally arrive. And when the two law enforcement officers make a rather disconcerting discovery in the Jackson cellar, the film will take a completely different turn. That's the biggest plus of this film. The surprise effect is huge. You are repeatedly misled. One moment you expect a sort of "Silence of the Lambs" serial killer scenario. Then you come to the conclusion that this film has an "X-Files" vibe. Such a movie you'd come across on some SyFy channel.

Unfortunately, the quality of this indie SF drops as the film progresses. I wasn't interested in the religious aspect. The "an eye for an eye" principle was rather laughable. Despite the sometimes high-quality special effects and generally not so bad acting (with even a cameo of the Star Trek veteran Jonathan Frakes), this film didn't really appeal to me. It seemed as if a whole arsenal of ideas and proposals were being collected and subsequently they didn't know anymore which direction it should go. In the end it felt as if I had watched a pilot episode of the umpteenth television series. "Devil's gate" is such a film where the story doesn't really match the footage when it comes to quality. Unfortunately. Because it had potential.

Set in the fictional town of Devil's Gate a federal agent teams with a local officer to investigate a missing wife & child. Trouble is their investigation leads them to the unbalanced husband and his trap filled home.

I expected horror, it was advertised as horror..........it's not really.

Milo Ventimiglia and Shawn Ashmore star in this interesting but ultimately flawed sci-fi movie which looks great but lacks in too many areas that matter.

Jonathan Frakes from Next Generation also stars and is particuly good, shame his role was a tad too small.

I liked the plot I did, even though I'm not a big sci-fi guy I think they did a good enough job here and left it open for potential sequels. Sadly it doesn't flow all too well and something just didn't sit right for me.

Watchable effort and this may really appeal to some, for me it was a deeply average offering.

The Good:

Decent plot

Jonathan Frakes

Great opening sequence

The Bad:

Poorly paced

Seriously, stop killing pets in every damn movie

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Milo Ventimiglia plays unhinged characters far too well

I would happily live in that house, yes I'm weird

FBI Special Agent Daria Francis (Amanda Schull) is assigned to travel to Devil's Gate, a small town in North Dakota, to investigate the disappearance of Maria Pritchard (Bridget Regan) and her son Jonah. Her prime suspect is the husband and father Jackson Pritchard (Milo Ventimiglia), who lives in a farm in the middle of nowhere. However Sheriff Gruenwell (Jonathan Frakes) asks Francis to let Jackson alone since he would be a good man. Deputy Conrad 'Colt' Salter (Shawn Ashmore) heads with Francis to interview Maria´s sister and she leaves her house convinced that Jackson may be hiding them. When they arrive at his farm, Jackson assaults Maria and she enters the house to investigate, and finds a weird thing. What is Jackson hiding?

"Devil´s Gate" is a surprisingly good and underrated sci-fi film. The screenplay is intriguing and the lead cast (Amanda Schull, Shawn Ashmore and Milo Ventimiglia have good performances. The conclusion after the initial credits is a cliffhanger for a possible sequence. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

The film features some really fantastic photography, and also really awesome visuals. The story itself was rather creepy and mysterious. The film was shot almost in monochromatic grey where other colors were not well defined. I'm not sure if this was the intention to blend in with the theme, or if it simply appears that way. The acting in general was good, and I enjoyed the mysterious feel to the film. The film has an interesting twist that changes everything we thought we knew about the father looking for his son...

The movie was good. Acting was ok, some people far better than others. The drawback is that the movie introduced so many interesting concepts but failed to fully develop any of them. The movie has about 3-4 good areas that if fleshed would make this an 7-8 hands down. But for the actors, the storyline and the scenery I'd give it a 5.